Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Rating Reiterated by Wedbush

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by research analysts at Wedbush in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $375.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 21.52% from the stock’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.45.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $308.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $99.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.85, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $289.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $299.07. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $188.83 and a twelve month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 37.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 280,193 shares of company stock valued at $80,670,132 in the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,767 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,291,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after buying an additional 1,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.